Sometimes nasty things happen to lucky people. Fortunate circumstances will often lead to unwanted and unexpected difficulties.
Who among us hasn’t dreamed about winning a lottery or inheriting a huge fortune from a long, lost relative?
Some people spend their entire lives waiting for their ship to arrive.
By the same token, most of us could never imagine how a financial windfall could be anything but good news and clear sailing.
Unfortunately there is growing evidence that sudden wealth can put you at risk for a troubling ailment that has been nicknamed “affluenza”.
This catchy term is defined as a dysfunctional relationship with money or the pursuit of wealth. Its symptoms include bewilderment, a loss of identity, depression and suicide.
New millionaires are being created daily through lotteries, inheritance or high-tech stock options and many of the recently rich have no idea what to expect.
It should be easy to have lots of money. You can buy what you want, go where you please, live in a fancy house and drive expensive vehicles to the jewelry store.
But not so fast. Psychologists studying this social phenomenon for years have discovered something called Sudden Wealth Syndrome.
Consider the case of one successful businessman who enjoyed the warmth and affection of a closely knit family until he won $315 million in the Powerball Lottery.
Over the next four years he lost (reportedly) $114 million of that money as his life spiraled downwards in a cycle of addiction and death.
Eventually he was left with no fortune and no family to speak of. I bet he never saw that coming.
Sudden wealth can be especially difficult for young people who are not equipped emotionally or intellectually to deal with what might seem to be fortunate circumstances.
This was the case with a lucky 16-year-old girl (legal gambling age in the U.K.) who won a lottery prize of almost two million pounds.
She has just recently recovered from cocaine addiction and repeated suicide attempts after blowing most of her fortune.
As a parent myself I would never wish that fate for any of my children regardless of how wealthy they became.
But that exact scenario is what many parents face as they decide how to distribute valuable assets among their children without spoiling them, ruining their lives or destroying their family.
It is estimated that over the next 50 years $136 trillion will pass through inheritance to the next generation.
Should parents tell the kids about the money now and risk having them lose any motivation to succeed themselves and sit, anxiously waiting for the cash?
Or, should they give the kids the opportunity to make it on their own and hope that when they do suddenly get the money they are mature enough to deal with it responsibly.
I’m sure some parents are turning in their graves as their children fritter away their hard-earned money in a flurry of poor decisions and disastrous results.
Interviews with 2000 families that inherited large sums showed that 70 per cent eventually lost control of their money and experienced a total loss of family identity.
For some it is hard to believe that sudden wealth, which is good, can destroy families, cause severe psychological problems and lead to death and destruction, which is very bad.
Think of it like this. It’s like inviting Courtney Love to your backyard family barbecue.
You just know that somebody is going to end up in the pool – drunk, disoriented and possibly even on fire.
At the very least we should all heed that popular modern cliché, be careful what you wish for.
